Shawnee man sentenced on multiple felonies in ATM robbery case

Thursday

Mar 28, 2013 at 9:00 AM

A second suspect charged with multiple felonies, including kidnapping, robbery and assault for allegedly beating a man and forcing him to withdraw funds from a Shawnee ATM in 2011 was sentenced Wednesday.

Kim Morava

A second suspect charged with multiple felonies, including kidnapping, robbery and assault for allegedly beating a man and forcing him to withdraw funds from a Shawnee ATM in 2011 was sentenced Wednesday.

Robert Michael Hacker, 22, pleaded guilty in Pottawatomie County District Court to seven felony counts and one misdemeanor. He received concurrent prison sentences, with the most being a 13-year term for the robbery, with five years to be served in prison with the Department of Corrections and then eight years out on probation.

He was charged with robbery by force and fear, conspiracy, kidnapping, aggravated assault and battery, larceny of an automobile, two counts of running a roadblock and the misdemeanor of eluding police.

He was sentenced to five years in prison, in each count, for conspiracy, kidnapping, aggravated assault and battery and larceny of an automobile. He received one year in each of the running of roadblock counts and one year in the county jail on the eluding charge, with all sentences handed down to be served concurrently.

Hacker also was ordered to pay about $5,772 in restitution.

He is expected to remain jailed in the Pottawatomie County Public Safety Center until he is transferred to a state penitentiary.

In February, the other defendant in this case, James Leo Washington IV, 21, also was sentenced.

Hacker, who was charged in October 2011, was accused of robbery by force and fear and conspiracy, and both were accused of robbing a man at the ATM at BancFirst on North Harrison Street.

Affidavits in the case show a police officer on overnight patrol noticed a suspicious vehicle on the east side of the bank with its parking lights on, with two people standing near the ATM.

One man was later determined to be the victim, while the other, later identified as Washington, had a long white object described as a white mini-blind, the warrant shows.

When the officer initiated his patrol car’s lights, Washington allegedly ran to get into the passenger side of vehicle and then two suspects inside attempted to flee.

The car engine died, the affidavit shows, so the officer ordered the driver to stop, with Washington getting out of the car, while Hacker, allegedly driving, got the car started and fled east on Federal Street in the victim’s car.

The robbery victim, who was near the ATM and bleeding heavily from his face, told officers he was attacked and beaten by the two suspects. The victim told officers he met the two suspects at a local bar and was giving them a ride when they started beating him before forcing him to go the ATM. The man said the suspects threatened to kill him and ordered him to withdraw $1,000 from his account, although he was having difficulty making that withdrawal when police showed up.

Police recovered the victim’s wallet from Washington's pocket, the warrant reads, and after a police pursuit in Shawnee, Hacker was taken into custody, according to the court documents.

Both also faced a kidnapping charge for forcibly seizing the victim and confining him in his vehicle, and they also were charged with the aggravated assault and battery.